


Field Trips Never Go Well For Peter Parker

by Mimirou



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Field Trip, Gen, I fell deep into the field trip genre, Irondad, Peter Parker must be protected at all cost, Sensory Overload, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, field trip to stark industries, rating is for some bad language only, spiderson, starts with some sensory overload
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-02 00:33:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17254274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mimirou/pseuds/Mimirou
Summary: Peter's class goes on a field trip to Stark Industries. With his week starting bad, he can only hope it doesn't get too much worse.





	Field Trips Never Go Well For Peter Parker

**Author's Note:**

> I discovered the field trip trope in this fandom and fell hard and deep. I just had to write my own. This starts with sensory overload, but it's not the focus of the story.

As soon as he woke up that morning, Peter knew it was going to be a bad day. Possibly a horrible day. First, he woke up late, so he had to rush to get ready for school, which caused him to almost put two different shoes on. _That_ would’ve been embarrassing. Second, he had a headache before he even opened his eyes, and opening them to the light coming through his window made it exponentially worse. He would’ve just skipped school altogether but he knew he has a chemistry quiz he couldn’t miss.

When he finally made it to school – five minutes before the bell and wearing matching shoes – his head was pounding, and the noise from the hallways was not helping. Every noise was amplified and Peter wanted to run out of the building and hide right then. And then Ned walked up and noticed the pained look on his face.

“Oh man, is it a bad day?” he whispered, not wanting to make things worse, even though Peter didn’t think they could. Peter just nodded slightly, not trusting himself to open his mouth and not groan. “You should go home. I know we have that quiz, but you can miss it and be fine.” Peter shook his head.

Ned, knowing his friend all too well, frowned but dropped it. Peter cared too much about his already amazing grades to skip a small quiz.

\---------

By the end of the day, Peter was surprised he hadn’t passed out. His head was pounding and his stomach was turning. He just wanted to go home and pass out. But he had to get through this chemistry quiz first. If he could stay awake long enough.

After finishing – slower than he normally would’ve but still faster than everyone else in the class – he put his head down and prayed for the sweet relief of death. Which of course didn’t come. What did come, though, was his teacher announcing five minutes before the bell that they were going on a field trip to Stark Industries. Of course, the class erupted in excited chatter, and Peter wanted to cry.

“Hey, Penis! Finally ready to admit you’re lying? Or do you want to be humiliated in front of SI employees?” Flash’s grating voice did nothing to help Peter’s headache. He didn’t want to deal with him today. Or any day, but that was beside the point.

“Fuck off, Flash.”

“Mr. Parker! We don’t use that kind of language.”

“Sorry, Mr. Harrington...”

Flash’s smug smirk was overshadowed by the look of concern he was now getting from his teacher. He tried to ignore it. They had less than a minute left in the day, he could survive that long. Before Mr. Harrington could say anything, the bell rang, and Peter was out of the room before being accosted. He stopped at his locker and waited for Ned to catch up to him. When he did, Peter gave him an apologetic smile. Ned shrugged it off and they made their way through the throng of students.

And of course the day wasn’t done with Peter yet. There in front of the school, waiting to take him to SI, was Happy. Peter groaned. “I forgot it was internship day.”

Ned patted him on the back in support. “Just tell him you don’t feel good. Maybe take a nap on the way. I’ll see you tomorrow, man.”

Peter frowned and waved as his friend walked away. He couldn’t just tell Happy, or Mr. Stark, he wasn’t feeling well. He was a superhero! Superheroes didn’t take a day off because of a headache. He waved at Happy and slid into the car, not noticing the driver’s frown. He sighed at the quiet of the car, glad his mentor had opted for soundproofing. Happy started towards Stark Industries, glancing back at the backseat every so often. For someone who couldn’t stop talking, it was concerning to have him be so quiet. He sent a quick message to Tony, telling him about his concerns.

Peter trudged into Tony’s lab, not feeling his usual excited self. Tony, having been notified of his mentee’s status, waved the boy over and wrapped his arm around his shoulder. “Hey, bud. Feeling crappy?” Peter nodded, feeling the tears form. “Sensory overload?” Another nod. Tony led Peter to the couch in the back of the room and wrapped him in the blanket draped across the back. He left for a minute and came back with noise-canceling headphones and glasses that would block the light, which he had dimmed before Peter got there.

“Take a nap, Pete. Everything will still be here to work on when you feel better.” He ran his fingers through the brown curls, urging his charge to sleep away the pain. He wished he could give him some medication, but nothing was strong enough, and his team of doctors hadn’t synthesized a formula that would work on him yet.

Soon enough, Peter was asleep, which left Tony to work quietly in his lab until he awoke again. He turned to head back to his desk and spotted a piece of paper sticking out of Peter’s backpack. He grabbed it and realized it was a permission slip for a trip to Stark Industries. Glancing back to make sure Peter was still asleep, he took the paper back to his desk and called May.

When May picked up, she was mildly panicking. “Tony? What happened? Is Peter okay?”

“Peter’s mostly fine. Just some sensory overload. He’s sleeping it off right now, but I’m probably going to keep him here tonight to recover. Don’t want him going home and thinking he’s fine enough for patrol.” He glanced back at Peter and smiled in relief that he was still asleep.

“He went to school like that? What was he thinking? I swear, that boy has no sense of self-preservation.”

“He learns from the best, I guess...” Tony chuckled.

May barked out a laugh. “I guess.” There was a beat in which Tony could hear May talk to someone near her about a patient. “Sorry, Tony, I gotta go. Thank you for taking care of Peter.”

“Of course. Bye, May.”

“Bye.”

Tony hung up and looked back at the permission slip in front of him. If he was keeping Peter overnight, he might as well sign it so he could turn it in tomorrow. After signing it, he slipped it back into Peter’s backpack where he found it.

\--------------------

Peter awoke to silence and darkness. And no headache. He was finally pain free, and he had Mr. Stark to thank for that. He sat up and took his glasses and headphones off, looking for Mr. Stark in the quiet lab.

“FRIDAY, where is Mr. Stark?”

“Mr. Stark is currently in the kitchen. Would you like me to tell him you are looking for him?”

“No, thank you. I’ll go up there.”

“Of course, Mr. Parker.”

Peter made his way up to the kitchen, where Tony was sitting at the counter, sipping coffee. He obviously had heard the elevator ding, as he was facing Peter when he walked in the room. “Hey, kid. Feeling better?”

Peter nodded, giving Tony a small smile. “Thanks, Mr. Stark. I feel a lot better. Sorry we didn’t get to work on my suit...”

Tony chuckled and shook his head. “I’m not the one missing out, Pete. And stop apologizing for things you can’t control. I thought we talked about this before.”

Peter sat at the counter next to Tony and huffed out a small laugh. “Sorry, Mr. Stark.” He smirked. Tony playfully glared and nudged Peter’s shoulder.

“Anyway, I’m starving, and I can only guess you are, too. Pizza?”

“Yes!”

“Alright then. FRIDAY, order our usual.”

“Yes, sir.”

They fell into a comfortable silence for a few minutes, until Tony finished his coffee and turned to Peter. “I talked to your aunt. Told her you’re staying here tonight.”

“W-what? Why? I’m fine now, I can go home.”

“Because we know you, Pete, and we know you would just push yourself again and go on patrol. No Spiderman-ing tonight. You’re going to eat, do your homework, and then go to bed.” He held up his hand as Peter made to complain. “Don’t. You need to rest. I know you’ve been out well past your bedtime this last week. Probably what caused the overload today.”

Peter looked down at the floor, ashamed to be called out by Tony. “Yes, Mr. Stark.”

“Oh, and I signed that permission slip for you. SI, huh? That’ll be an interesting day.”

Peter’s eyes were wide as he quickly turned back to look at Tony. “Promise you won’t show up, please! I don’t want anyone finding out what I actually do here.”

“What, you mean sleeping in my lab and eating all my food?” He shook his head. “Relax, kid. I’m not gonna go telling everyone that you’re Spiderman. Besides, I think Pepper scheduled me for meetings all day.”

“You don’t go to meetings...”

Tony shrugged. “First time for everything.”

“Sir, the pizza is here.”

“Thank you, FRI.”

After Peter and Tony finished eating – Peter significantly more than Tony – Tony sent him to do his homework and told him he would be checking on him later. Peter rolled his eyes and mumbled, “Okay, dad.” He didn’t notice the shocked look on Tony’s face as he walked back to the elevator to go to his room.

\---------------------

The day of the field trip came far too quickly for Peter’s liking. After handing in his permission slip (which he thought about not doing but he knew Tony would find out), Mr. Harrington told him he didn’t appreciate the joke and handed him a new one that he had May sign. Even though Tony was listed as one of his emergency contacts, no one believed he actually knew the billionaire.

Sitting in the back of the bus, Peter tried to ignore Flash when he sidled up to him and began his nonsense. “So, Penis. Still not wanting to admit you don’t actually have an internship? Everyone knows you’re lying. Well, except your boyfriend here.”

Peter’s face flushed. “Shut up, Flash.” He didn’t even bother rebutting him, knowing it would do no good. Flash would never believe anything he said.

“Your funeral.” Flash shrugged and smirked as he walked back to his seat in the front of the bus.

“Just ignore him, Peter.” Ned patted his shoulder and smiled at his friend. “I can’t wait to see his face when he realizes you _do_ have an internship. Hey, do you think Mr. Stark will be there?”

Peter chuckled but sank down in his seat. “I hope not. He’ll just embarrass me.”

“Maybe not. Maybe he’ll put Flash in his place. Now _that_ I want to see!”

Michelle turned around to face them, having to look further down than she anticipated, as Peter was almost flat on his back on the seat. “I hope Stark shows up so I can give him a piece of my mind about funding a war that kills innocent people.”

Peter sat up and adjusted his hoodie that had risen up his back as he slid down the seat. “He doesn’t do that anymore. And he feels bad enough about it as is. Please don’t make it worse.”

Michelle lightly glared at him. “No promises,” she said as she turned around to continue reading.

The bus came to a stop in front of Stark Industries and everyone (except Peter) scrambled to get off the bus and into the building. Some stopped outside to look up at the tall tower and marvel at it. Sure, they had seen it from a distance before, but seeing it up close made them realize just how tall it actually was. They were all ushered into the lobby, where a tall, olive-skinned woman was waiting for them, a big smile on her face. Peter recognized her slightly as someone Mr. Stark talked to sometimes about projects. He hoped she didn’t recognize him.

“Good morning, Midtown! I hope you’re all excited for the tour today. My name is Sabine and I’ll be your guide today.” She turned and grabbed a box from the reception desk behind her. “You’ll all be getting temporary guest badges today. Make sure you have them visible at all times. Our head of security is really particular about that.”

Peter smiled a little at that as he fished his badge out of his backpack. Mr. Stark had a strict policy against reprints, worried about someone losing one or giving one to someone who didn’t belong in the building.

“Okay, I’m going to call out names. When your name is called, please come get your badge.” Sabine began calling out the names of Peter’s classmates and handing them white badges with their names and the word “guest” on them. She skipped over Peter, which didn’t escape Flash’s attention. “Okay, so now that everyone has a badge-”

“Peter didn’t get one!” Flash turned and smirked at Peter.

“Peter didn’t get one because he already has one, and Mr. Stark has a rule against someone having more than one badge.”

Flash frowned, noticing Peter’s badge on a lanyard around his neck. It was dark blue instead of white and had his name and picture on it. “That doesn’t look real! Can’t even make a convincing fake, Penis?”

Sabine stepped forward, standing in between the two teens. “I can assure you, it’s very real. I’ve worked with Peter several times. His badge looks different because it’s an intern badge, not a guest one like you have.”

One of Peter’s classmates raised her hand and asked, “What do the different badges mean?”  
  
Sabine smiled at her. “Good question! There are different levels of security access. You all have level one. That’s given to press, tour groups, and family members visiting. Levels two through five are for interns, who start at two and go up as they advance in their work. Six through eight are for scientists. Again, they start at six and move up to eight. Level nine is for the Avengers who don’t live in the tower, such as Ant-Man. Level ten is for the Avengers who do live in the tower, as well as Pepper Potts, and our head of security. Now, if you’ll follow me...”

Sabine led them to the security gates. Peter hoped FRIDAY wouldn’t call attention to him. He caught Happy’s eye as he got in the back of the line, who smiled at him and made to wave him through the other side of the metal detectors. Peter shook his head. Like that wouldn’t bring attention to himself. He didn’t need anyone questioning why the head of security let him pass without going through the metal detectors.

Sabine scanned her badge on the reader and walked through the metal detector to show the students what to do. As soon as her badge was scanned, a robotic voice said, “Sabine Michaels. Level four access. Cleared.” Everyone looked around in confusion, wondering where that voice came from. “That’s FRIDAY, Mr. Stark’s A.I. She runs the building and sees and hears everything. Now, one at a time, go through just like I did.”

One by one, the class went through security, scanning their badges and getting their names called along with “level one access. Cleared.” Soon it was Peter’s turn. Happy gave him a look that said _you should’ve just gone through here_ and waved him through. He placed his backpack on the x-ray belt and quietly said, “FRIDAY, Karen’s with me.” He didn’t get confirmation, but he figured she had heard him when there were no alarms. He swiped his badge and walked through the metal detector.

“Peter Parker. Level ten access. Cleared.” In a more human voice, FRIDAY spoke. “Welcome back, Peter. Shall I tell boss you’re here?”

Peter’s eyes widened in fear. “No! That’s okay, FRI, I’m here on a field trip.” He tried to ignore the shocked looks from all his classmates and even his teacher.

“Very well. Enjoy the tour."

Peter grabbed his bag and sped over to Ned, who gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. Sabine directed everyone to the elevators before anyone could say anything.

“We’re going to go up to the second floor, where Mr. Stark has set up a museum of sorts with early SI tech and Avenger’s equipment. You’ll have 45 minutes to look around before we move on.”

There were no buttons in the elevator, but when Sabine swiped her badge, the elevator immediately started moving. When the elevator opened again, the students ran out, excited to see all the cool tech. Peter hung back, having already seen everything here. Well, almost everything.

Ned nudged him and pointed to a far wall, where his old, homemade suit hung. “Dude, there’s a Spider-Man display!”

Peter groaned. Knowing Tony, there was probably some embarrassing information he didn’t want anyone to know. And he was right. They found their way over there, and on a small placard underneath the suit, it read, “Spider-Man: Preliminary Avenger. Likes: Gummy bears, squished sandwiches, surprising the Avengers by jumping on them from the ceiling. Dislikes: Spiders, black coffee.”

Peter blushed as Ned choked back a laugh. “Dude, you’re afraid of spiders?” he whispered.

“No!” He coughed as Ned raised an eyebrow. “Only the really big ones… it was one time...”

“Hey, losers.”

Peter and Ned jumped as Michelle spoke, not expecting her to be there. Peter suspected she already knew he was Spider-Man, but he didn’t know for sure, and he didn’t want to accidentally give it away in case she didn’t. She raised an eyebrow and shifted her gaze to the exhibit behind them.

“If you’re trying to be inconspicuous, you should really be aware of your surroundings.” With that, she walked away, not giving the boys a chance to say anything.

Peter and Ned looked at each and grimaced. Michelle definitely knew. Thankfully, she was the kind of person who wouldn’t go around telling everyone. She probably didn’t even care.

They wandered around some more, Ned getting excited about some of the old tech and fanboying over all of the Avengers’ stuff. Ned was about to ask Peter a question about Black Widow’s Widow Bites when Flash shoved himself in Peter’s face, glaring.

“How did you do it?”

“Do what?” Peter shrunk back, hoping Sabine wasn’t paying attention.

“Hack the security. How much did you have to pay the guide to pretend to know you?”

“Wha- I – I didn’t! I told you, I’m an intern here!”

“How do you have a level ten badge?!”

“I-I’m Mr. Stark’s personal intern. I have to be able to get to wherever he is.”

Before Flash could retort, Sabine called everyone back to the elevator, telling them they were going up to the tenth floor to see some intern labs and offices. As they all shuffled into the elevator, Flash bumped into Peter’s shoulder, almost making him fall over. Ned grabbed his arm to steady him and Peter sent him a grateful smile. Sabine sent him a concerned look, silently asking if everything was okay. He nodded and she turned to face the elevator door. FRIDAY sent the elevator up to the tenth floor.

The interns on the tenth floor barely spared a glance to the high schoolers, too focused on their projects. One did a double-take when he saw Peter and raced over to him.

“Peter! Thank god. I need your help. I’ve been staring at this math for three days and can’t seem to get it right.”

Peter internally groaned but followed the intern – Aaron, he remembered his name was – to his desk, where there was a complicated math problem on a whiteboard. He studied it for a minute before grabbing a marker and changing a positive number to a negative one and adjusting the rest of the problem accordingly. He turned back to Aaron, who looked at him in shock.

“Uhh… sorry.”

“No, man. You just saved me so much work. I was about to start completely over until I saw you. Thank you so much!”

Peter nodded and went back to his class, who was staring at him, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. Even his teacher looked like he didn’t believe what he had just watched.

“Holy shit, Parker. What was that about?” Flash looked back at the whiteboard and then to Peter again, not really comprehending what he had just witnessed.

“I told you, I’m an intern here. I help these guys a lot.” Peter shrugged and moved back to stand next to Ned again.

Sabine cleared her throat and stretched out her arms, as if showing off the floor.

“Okay, kids. This is one of the intern floors. These guys are working on a myriad of projects, some for the company and some personal.” She motioned for them to follow her to an empty room, where a few tables were set up with boxes of scrap metal and computer components, among other things. “We’re gonna take 45 minutes here and build something with what’s in these boxes. Get into groups of at least three and have at it!”

Peter, Ned, and (outwardly reluctantly) Michelle migrated to a far table and dumped the box out. They quickly began brainstorming what they could build. Ned took over coding while Peter built and Michelle designed. In the time allotted, they managed to build a fairly well functioning robot that walked up to whoever was closest and gave a deep bow.

Sabine called for them to finish what they were doing and said they had a surprise judge. Peter looked up in panic, his smile falling from his face as Tony Stark walked in the room. He almost ducked under the table, but Michelle grabbed his arm to stop him. Tony was slowly looking over all the things the other groups had built, critiquing and praising where warranted. He frowned deeply when Flash’s robot fell apart before it could do whatever it had been programmed to do.

“Disappointing. I expected better from someone at a STEM school.”

He walked over to Peter’s table and smiled at his mentee. “What have you guys got to show me?” He clasped his hands in anticipation.

The little robot walked up to Tony, stopping just before the edge of the table, and bowed. Tony barked out a laugh and patted Peter’s shoulder. “Great work, guys! Mind if I take this little guy to my lab?”

Ned gasped and grinned. “Awesome! Tony Stark wants to keep our robot!”

Peter groaned and sank into his seat, wanting to melt away from the stares of his classmates. Michelle nodded at Tony and he picked up the robot. He turned back to the rest of the class, smile still on his face. “Most of you guys did pretty good, given the time constraint. I’m looking forward to seeing what you accomplish as you grow.” He ruffled Peter’s hair before leaving, the bowing robot clutched protectively in his hands.

The room was eerily quiet for a moment before it erupted in questions and exclamations directed toward Peter.

“Do you really know Tony Stark?”

“He acted like he really knew you!”

Flash crossed his arm and grumbled, “Probably just sitting in the right spot. Bet if Ned was sitting there, he would’ve done the same thing to him.”

Peter was saved by Sabine clapping her hands to get everyone’s attention. “Alright, now that that’s done, it’s time for lunch. We’ll be going up to the fifteenth floor, where there’s a free cafeteria.”

When they got to the cafeteria, Sabine shouted after the kids running off to get food. “You have 30 minutes. Meet back at the elevator.”

Peter grabbed a few sandwiches and found a table far away from Flash and his cronies, facing away from the rest of the room so he didn’t have to deal with the stares. Ned and Michelle sat across from him, Ned giving him a look of concern.

“You okay, dude?” Peter groaned. “It could’ve been worse.”

“Not helping, Ned.” Peter took a large bite of one of his sandwiches so he didn’t have to answer any more questions. He knew Ned meant well, but he didn’t want to deal with any of this.

Unfortunately, Flash decided he needed Peter to answer some questions anyway.

“Hey, Penis! What the fuck was that? Stark criticized my robot but liked your mediocre crap? What’d you have to do to have him pretend to like your stuff?”

Michelle glared at Flash. “Maybe your robot was just a piece of shit. After all, you made it.”

Flash gaped at her, afraid to retort because he knew she could say so much worse. He turned back to Peter, glaring even though Peter still hadn’t looked at him. He went to grab Peter’s arm to turn him around when someone grabbed the back of his shirt.

“What did you just call him?”  
  
Peter froze. He knew that voice. This wasn’t going to end well.

Flash was forcibly turned around to face Natasha Romanoff, who looked pissed as hell. He paled in fear. “N-nothing! I called him by his name!”

Natasha raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “I think I heard you call him an inappropriate word.”

“N-no! I would never.” Flash was ready to run, even though he figured he wouldn’t get far. Natasha quirked the corner of her mouth up slightly, giving Flash a deadly smile. “I m-mean… I called him ‘penis’...” Flash dropped his head, ashamed and afraid to look at Natasha.

“Thought so.” She pulled him closer so she could speak directly in his ear. “I hear you call him anything other than his name, and you’ll regret it.” Flash nodded and Natasha pushed him away and he stumbled back to his table. She turned back to Peter and sat next to him. “You okay, Peter?”

Peter nodded, smiling shyly at her. “Thanks. You didn’t have to do that, though. It doesn’t bother me anymore.”

“How long has this been going on?”

“Uhh… since freshman year?” Peter shrugged and continued eating.

Natasha hummed in displeasure. “And you didn’t tell anyone because?”

Peter swallowed and sighed. “Because it’s not a big deal. It’s just a stupid name. It’s not even creative. Honestly, Nat, I’m fine. Thank you.”

“If this continues, I’m going to have to tell Tony. And I’m not changing my mind, so don’t even try with those puppy eyes of yours.” Natasha stood up, ruffling Peter’s hair much like Tony had done earlier.

“Ugh, please don’t. He doesn’t need to know!”

“Sorry, Pete. He’s gotta know.” She waved to Ned and Michelle and left, stealing Peter’s apple as she did.

Peter banged his head down on the table, ignoring Ned’s amazed, “Dude! You know Black Widow?”. This day could not get any worse.

\-----------------

After lunch, Sabine took the class to see some scientist labs, explaining what they were working on as they walked through the halls. When they finished, she took them back to the lobby, the tour complete.

“Thank you all for coming today! You may keep the badges as souvenirs. They’ll be deactivated as soon as you leave, so don’t try to get back in later. I hope you all learned a lot and had fun!”

Mr. Harrington thanked her and ushered his class out of the building back to the bus. Before they stepped outside, they were stopped by a familiar voice.

“Hold on a minute.” Tony Stark came out of the elevator and walked over to Peter. “I’m keeping him here. Doesn’t make much sense for him to go back to school only to come right back here.”

Mr. Harrington was at a lose. “Y-you can’t just take one of my students without his guardian’s permission.”

Tony waved him off. “Technically, I _am_ one of his guardians, but I can call May if you don’t believe me.”

Peter was wrong. This day could, and just did, get worse. Did Tony Stark just say, in front of his entire class, that he was his guardian? He wanted the floor to open up and swallow him whole. Tony put his arm around Peter’s shoulder as he dialed May’s number and put the phone on speaker.

“Tony? Is everything okay?”

“Yep! Just here with Peter, trying to get his teacher to let him stay here instead of going back to school. But he doesn’t believe I’m his other guardian. Could you tell him it’s fine? You’re on speaker, by the way.”

“Of course it’s fine. Doesn’t make sense to go to school just to immediately return, Mr. Harrington.”

Tony smiled his fake smile at the teacher as he floundered.

“W-well, okay, I guess. You can stay, Peter.”

Peter waved bye to his friends as Tony steered him back toward the elevators. He caught a glimpse of Flash’s shocked face and he smiled after he turned to face forward. Tony squeezed his shoulder and stepped in the elevator, ready to take his charge up to his lab to work on suit upgrades.

“Thank you, Mr. Stark.” Peter blushed and avoided eye contact.

Tony chuckled and hugged Peter to his side. “No problem, kid. FRIDAY was keeping me up to date on what was happening. Gotta say, don’t much care for that Flash kid."

Peter laughed, finally looking up at Tony. “That’s nicer than I expected.”

Tony shrugged. “I’m in a relatively good mood. Don’t want to think about him and ruin it.”

They arrived at Tony’s lab without Peter even noticing. He spotted the little robot on Tony’s work table and looked up at the man in confusion. Tony followed his gaze and shrugged when he saw the robot.

“It’s cute. And you made it with your friends.”

Peter cleared his throat in embarrassment. “You don’t need to keep it, you know.”

“I want to. I’m like a proud father, keeping his kid’s work to show off to people. I’m definitely showing this to Rhodey and Pepper.”

“What? No, you don’t need to do that, Mr. Stark!”

“Oh, we’re back to ‘Mr. Stark’? What happened to ‘dad’?” Tony smirked at Peter, whose face had turned a surprising shade of red.

“What?! I’ve never called you that. Why would you even say that?!”

“You called me dad the other night. The day you came over with overload. Remember? FRIDAY, play the recording.”

“Yes, boss.”

Peter put his head in his hands. “You really don’t need to do that. _Please_ don’t do that.”

But it was useless, because he was already listening to himself mutter “Okay, dad.” When he looked up, Tony was watching the recording, a soft smile on his face.

“You know, I don’t mind you calling me dad. I’m honored you think of me like that. Kinda feel like I don’t deserve it.” Tony wrapped his arm around Peter. “I’m willing to try, though.”

Peter turned and wrapped his arms around Tony, burying his face in his chest. “Thanks… dad.”

Tony ran his fingers through Peter’s soft curls and hugged him back. “No problem, son.”


End file.
